Annual meeting of Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering held in Australia last week

The annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering is held in Australia from Aug. 18-23 (Source: APG)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing have been recognized by a regional organization.

The annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) was held in Australia from August 18 to 23. During the meeting, 41 member jurisdictions agreed to adopt the mutual evaluation report on Taiwan, under the name Chinese Taipei, issued by the APG on June 28, which placed the island country in the “regular follow-up” category, said the Anti-money Laundering Office of the Executive Yuan via a statement on Sunday (Aug. 25).

This is the result of Taiwan’s overall good performance in the assessment in areas ranging from technical to legal compliance and effectiveness, according to the Anti-money Laundering Office. Members in the regular follow-up category will report to the plenary every two years as opposed to those in the “enhanced follow-up" group, which are required to report more frequently.

Before publication, the report will be provided to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Secretariat and all other assessment bodies for possible consideration in the Global Quality and Consistency Review process. The final confirmation will take roughly six weeks.

Aside from Taiwan, only Macau, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Cook Islands acquire the regular follow-up status, which means the country’s efforts to fight money-laundering in recent years have been recognized internationally, said the office. The assessment was conducted by an APG committee composed of experts in criminal law, law enforcement, and financial regulatory issues, according to the organization, which was founded in 1997.

The annual meeting was joined by over 520 senior delegates from 46 jurisdictions and 13 international organizations. The Taiwanese delegation consisted of 30 officials from the Financial Supervisory Commission, Central Bank, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and law enforcement agencies.